Child mortality declines sharply across regions

New child mortality estimates show that substantial progress has been made towards achieving Millennium Development Goal 4. The estimates were released today by the UN Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation, which includes UNICEF, WHO, the World Bank and United Nations Population Division.

Since 1990 the global under-five mortality rate has dropped 41%, from 89 deaths per 1,000 live births in 1990 to 52 in 2011. Four of the six World Bank’s developing regions have reduced their under-five mortality rate by more than 50%.